Just Your Average Hedgehogs (Sonic The Hedgehog High School AU)
by sonicnstuff
Summary: Three teenage boys, three stories. The golden boy popular kid, dealing with a tag along kid; the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, trying to handle a friendship that's on the rocks; the new kid, trying his best to navigate his new life and lost love. These stories are separate yet concurrent, and will alternate by chapter.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

High school is strange time for anyone. Some find it difficult, or mystifying, or a task that takes effort, others find it easy, a game of sorts, a breeze. As for Sonic the Hedgehog, he found his junior year quite the breeze. Every day drifted by blissfully without issues ever arising. He had it pretty good. Popular, a track star, alright grades, everything just sort of fell into place for him. It was one of those easy days, and Sonic was sitting on his desk in homeroom, before the morning bell, gazing out the window. It was late in autumn, and the thought of winter excited him, even though the weather there never got cold enough for a noticeable change in season, but just thinking of the rolling hills covered in snow made Sonic happy. He'd go out snowboarding every day, since behind running, that was his favorite sport. Either way, his parents would go up to the mountains and he could board there. Christmas tradition.

Then, the bell rang, snapping him from his reverie. He quickly swiveled down into his chair as the teacher came in to take roll. It went by quickly, and Sonic got to chatting with some friends from track, Ray and Mighty. Homeroom served little purpose other than for attendance and seeing teachers, things of that sort. A time when everyone is free. Sonic usually used this time to talk, and think about the homework he may or may not have done, which more often than not, he didn't. The other shuffles went by barely noticed. People were also also chatting, doing homework, reading, one kid came in late and stood by as the teacher wrote the note that he was tardy. Sonic didn't care. Sonic didn't even glance up enough to see who it was, and Sonic knew everyone, so it wouldn't take much of a glance. He took occasional glances at the clock for when the bell would ring, and started to plan the day ahead as he slipped away from conversation. He hadn't finished his English paper due today, he actually had done his social studies for once, and no other class today had homework due. He scrambled in the diminishing time of homeroom to finish something resembling a paper, seeing as English was only two periods away. He just barely cut it, looking up to see there was barely two minutes till the bell rang. "Oh crap," muttered Sonic as he packed up his books and binders. He again looked at the clock and drummed his fingers on the desk waiting for the bell. And there it was. And there he went, not that he was particularly excited for science class, but more bored with staying in one place.


	2. Chapter 2

In a rickety one bedroom ranch style home on the shady side of town, a phone rang. It rang again. It rang thrice. On the fourth ring, it was finally answered. "Hello?" Asked Shadow, still asleep in bed.

"Shadow, where the hell are you? I've been at the stop for half an hour. I can literally see the bus from here!" Said Rouge, a neighbor of Shadow's who lived a little over a block away in her father's pawn shop.

Shadow glanced at the clock radio by his bed seeing the time, shocked at it, but not the fact that the alarm had not gone off. He said, "Shit! Why didn't you call me earlier? I'll be there in a few."

Rouge sighed defeatedly, before saying, "I did, but you sleep like you're dead! If you miss the bus, there is no way in hell you're making it to school on time no matter how fast you run, and you know that. Hurry up!"

And with those words, Shadow ended the call and climbed out of bed and put his shoes on, grabbed his phone before getting to the living room, where all his books were strewn about, amongst other things. He hadn't really cleaned the place since Saturday. He haphazardly threw the books into his bag, drawing it closed as he slung it over one shoulder and went out the door, locking it on his way out. By the time he got to his stop, the place looked deserted. "Dammit" He muttered to himself. His phone buzzed, and he looked down and opened up the text, from Rouge: "Nice one, dumbass. See you at lunch"

He rolled his eyes at that. He didn't have time to stand around, school was on the other side of town, and with all the foot traffic, full speed would be impossible. In short, Shadow was screwed. But off he went, speeding to school.

By the time Shadow had made it to school, Rouge was right. Homeroom was halfway over. At least it wasn't all the way over and digging into his first period time. It couldn't have any more class tardies. Not if he didn't want detention. Which he didn't; he had work to do after school. Homeroom wasn't a class, luckily for him. He stood awkwardly at the reception desk the office, as receptionist was in the back, processing papers she had told him through the door. She walked out, telling the others inside she would be right back. When sat down at her desk she gave Shadow a look, one he knew well, this desk was a frequent place for him. She silently wrote down his tardy slip and and handed it to him telling him, "With your track record we just might start punishing homeroom tardies" as he took it and started to run out the door, before she could even tell him to slow down, too. After getting his books for first period from his locker, he ran again to his homeroom, where everyone was all already settled in, he sidestepped the popular kids and gave his slip to the teacher along with his excuse. He quickly settled into a seat after that and sat, bored for the rest of the block. Would have been better if he had brought his MP3 player with him, but, with what little time he had, either way was pointless. _I hate doing nothing_ , he thought to himself before slumping into his chair and scowling. Who gave a shit about all this? He certainly didn't.

The time between then and the bell was short but agonizing, and Shadow finally got up to leave like he had wanted. But, still everything looked downhill from here. Hell knows he wasn't looking up to going to math. Math was easily the worst class on Shadow's schedule, and he particularly didn't care to hear the teacher done on and on about whatever he was teaching. Still, Shadow walked through the mass of students to class just like everyone else.


	3. Chapter 3

The back room of the office was small cramped space that few would enjoy, but Silver particularly disliked it in this moment, deathly silent except his fathers idle finger tapping and the office lady typing on the computer. She stuck her head up from what she was doing to say "just making double sure, you're in what grade now?"

Silver started to open his mouth to speak before his father cut in, "9th."

He hated when his father did that, and a little voice told him to call him out on it; to grumble and say " _Dad, I'm not five!_ " But an even bigger voice, one from his memories told him " _You don't talk back to your parents like that, boy._ " So, as usual, Silver stayed quiet. The printer made a quiet _skzzt_ as it printed off something, but the lady hopped up and said there was something quick but urgent she had to deal with in the main office, and to wait right here. Oh, god. The lady, despite her quietness was the diffusing factor in the room, Silver took a deep breath as the tiny room became completely quiet and still. His father wasn't drumming his fingers anymore, and Silver could feel him staring in his direction. Silver was holding his breath every moment she was away.

Finally, the lady was back, and she grabbed the papers, handing the papers to him, saying, "Now, here's your schedule, and a map of the school, though you should be able to find your way around on your own. Sir," she added, addressing Silvers father, "we can take it from here. You can make your way to work now. Will Silver be driven home today or will he be taking the bus? I want to know if I need to get his route info from transportation."

He said, "He will need to take the bus, and will take the bus for the foreseeable future." Then left.

"O-okay" Muttered the office lady. Now, I just have to take your photo for a student ID, since you missed picture day, kiddo. Just stand against this white wall here." She said, and he complied. A quick snapshot later, Silver was on his own. His homeroom was downstairs, and a fair ways away. The whole walk there Silver sulked. He hated that his father packed up all their things and bought a new house miles and miles away for no reason. He hated that he would have no friends again, and that his odds of making any were little to none, all his old friends were made by sheer lucky and probably pity, I mean, one of them was a junior for gods sake. She was the kindest of them all though, like the sister he never had. His other friends would probably never keep in touch. He also hated the worst part of it all, leaving his boyfriend. The one gripe Silver hadn't taken up with his father. It all made him want to just scream right there in the halls. But he didn't. Odds are though, he would scream later.

He made his way to homeroom and the teacher was in the front of the class, her hands clasped together, and when she saw him, she plastered a big smile on her face. "Ah!" She exclaimed. "Our new student."

 _Ugh,_ thought Silver, _this is going to go great._

The teacher kept smiling as he walked in "Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"

 _No_ , thought Silver. "Uh, sure," he said, feigning confidence. He soon went on a quick speech on who he was why he was here, pretending to be excited the whole time.

The teacher, still smiling, said "Well, it was nice to meet you, Silver, I hope you have a nice time here. Please, sit down there," and gestured to the empty seat.

Silver sat as he was told, and once again looked at his schedule and map, planning his route to his next class. And then the class after that, then to lunch, and to all of his other classes. During all of this, as he had expected, nobody had come to say hello or see if he needed help to class. There wasn't much time left to homeroom, so he decided to take out his phone, but before he could even slide the keyboard out, the teacher swiveled her head to him. "I don't know how they ran things at your old school, but here we have a zero cell phone policy except in lunchrooms. I'll let you off since you're new but we are usually not as lenient here."

Silver was dumbstruck at her perceptiveness. "Oh.. Okay," he replied, putting the phone back away. This left him without options for things to do for the remainder of the class. He sighed and slunk down in his chair and started to count the ceiling tiles alone, drowning out the chatter of everyone else that had friends. Which, as it appeared to Silver, was everybody that wasn't him. _This is the worst day of my life_.


	4. Chapter 4

It was the class before lunch, and nothing made Sonic antsier. Ever since he was a little kid he was like that, especially in school. Even on the days the cafeteria served junk. But since that class was Geography, he was really on edge. He sat in the back, a usual rarity for him since that's where the burnouts sat and while he liked not be be a cliquey and stuck up popular buy, Sonic tried to stay away from the burnouts and the edgy kids. They were bad news and sort of scared him, to be honest, but Geography wasn't much of a class for that sort. Most of them went to basic or remedial World History, but his counselor told him it would look good on a transcript and with little input from Sonic, he was signed up for it. Like he needed a boost like that. Track was gonna be a full ride to college for him, if he even went to college. As much as he was composed, Sonic honestly didn't have a clue as to what his future plans were. He just wanted to go wherever the wind takes him, wherever that may be. But, right now, he had notes to take, so he kept an eye on the board and scribbled the things the teacher said, as she chattered on about the subject, but the words just drifted through his head.

Then, the girl next to him tapped the underside of his desk. Almost a reflex, Sonic slipped his hand under and pulled the taped note from his desk. He looked up and scanned the class. Ray. Ray was the only close friend of Sonic's in the class. It had to be him. He looked down. It sure was, and he unfolded it:

" _Gonna be out at lunch. Gotta talk to coach again. Honestly, kinda thinking about pulling a fast one on Mrs Graves. I'd invite you along but you're such a goody two shoes._ " Liar, Ray hasn't needed to talk to Coach in a month. It wasn't even season. All the track kids were doing after school was training and conditioning for spring, which may seem extreme, but since most of the team didn't take another sport, it was to keep them in top game.

Sonic scoffed lightly and got to writing his reply. " _Are you sure you're not going to find Monica and suck face with her like you did last week? I'm staying behind so I don't fail out of the class like you're close to doing."_ He passed it to the girl next to him and he half payed attention to the teacher and half eyed the note as it made its way to Ray. When it did, he turned around after reading it and mouthed " _Suit yourself_ " to Sonic.

"Ray, eyes on the board please," said Mrs Graves, who was now standing completely still with her arms crossed.

Ray tried not to roll his eyes and apologized. Class resumed and Sonic looked down at his notes. He has easily missed the last 5 minutes of the class screwing around. He internally groaned and skipped a page to leave some room, then picked up where the teacher left off. There was always somebody to copy off of. Smart people classes aren't always full of honorable kids. There's always those few kids desperate enough for perfect grades to cheat and kids desperate for the attention to give them the means to. Sonic had his guy, a kid in the other class later today, who always had the most perfect notes and impeccable homework, who would totally give him the notes. He didn't use the kid all the time, because God knows if he got caught he could kiss his track career good bye, but, so could failing a class, so it made an even tradeoff.

With that in mind, Sonic took his notes with increasingly less effort as the class dwindled down in time, thinking more and more about lunch, and less and less about the class. Then he started watching the clock. Then, tapping his foot, until the teacher glared at him. He stopped after that, then restarted tapping once the teacher didn't care. Then, there was a mere two minutes left to the class, everyone started to pack up. One minute and everyone had migrated to the doorway area. Maybe the teacher had more to say, but the class no longer cared. She sat down at her desk and looked at the class, all anxious to leave. The bell rang, and Sonic made sure he was one of the first out the door. Most of the kids went straight away to lunch, but Sonic went the other way, to his locker, and got his money, where Mighty was waiting for him, as their lockers were nearby. As he unlocked his locker, Mighty made some small talk.

"So, whats for lunch today?" asked Mighty.

Sonic had to think for a moment as he rifled through the pockets of his bag for his money, and he found it, then said "Uh, I think spaghetti or something like that? I dunno man, I just what they give me, you know?"

Mighty shrugged and they went off to lunch.


	5. Chapter 5

Math class. Remedial math, to be specific. The first period class was a small, motley crew of kids who, for the most part, didn't care about what was going on. The teacher was much more invested in what was going on, demonstrating a function the kids still hadn't gotten the hang of yet, to his dismay. When he finished, he turned to the class, all too tired to really pay him any mind and asked, "Do you guys understand now?"

A few collective grumbles responded back with nods.

Shadow was not one of the ones who responded. He understood plenty well, but he didn't care enough to actually try during test and such. Likely, he would forget the lesson and forget to do the homework and forget to give a worthwhile excuse to the teacher the next day. That's what he did yesterday. Right now, he wasn't even looking at the teacher. He was writing in a faded notebook he kept on himself all the time. It wasn't quite a journal, but he wrote down thoughts he had in there, especially his dark ones. It was in that frame of being tryhard laughable "edgy" but some of it was genuine anger, whatever the words were, there were people who would take it all in earnest so he tried not to leave it where an idiot could find it. Right now, he was writing down about how the math teacher could perish in a fiery inferno and he wouldn't care. Or maybe how he could get the hell out of the class without getting another mark on his disciplinary record, which was already rocky. He resolved with himself that he'd struggle through this class and do as he pleased with his free period after he did the favor he promised another teacher. It was only a period away, after all. He continued to ignore the teacher completely, until he heard his name called. Then again, a little louder. He slapped the book closed and looked up, "yes?" he asked, looking at the teacher.

"I'm sorry to have interrupted whatever you were doing there, young man, but would you mind giving the answer to this problem here?" said the teacher, impatiently.

Shadow huffed for a second, then moved his eyes to the board, analyzing the math the teacher had done and though for a moment. He knew the answer, and replied, "It's 263."

The teacher looked impressed for a moment. "Nicely done. Why can't you show this sort of effort on your work now?" he laughed at his own little jab for a moment before going on, "now, why is this so?"

Shadow wasn't in the mood to keep this stupid back and forth with this stupid teacher who tried too hard to help these "at risk" kids. He glanced at the board again and said, "because it is. Its in the math, you just gotta look at it."

The teacher sighed a little, "I'm glad it just _miraculously_ came to you, Shadow, but everyone else here isn't quite that skilled, so would you _please_ explain the question?" other kids were starting to divert their attention to what looked like could be an interesting conversation.

Shadow paused for moment, pretending to think, then said, "whatever. I answered the question. I'm not the teacher here. The kids who can't figure it out oughta go to you, since that's your job, is it not?"

The class snickered for a moment, some making comments about how he'd "owned" the teacher. It made Shadow smirk a little at how much they thought he was trying to be funny, when in reality he didn't give a damn. It was also amusing they laugh without realizing that it was partially at their expense. They were thick after all.

The teacher grumbled, but as expected, had no response to what he had said. Instead he started explaining the problem for the rest of the class. He continued on until the lesson was over, and he set the marker back in the tray and rested his hand on it. "So," he said, "you kids have twenty minutes to work on your homework. This is not _free time_. I expect you to be working the whole time. If you finish your work, you can read a book or something productive. And you," he added, looking at Shadow, "I need to talk to you at my desk."

Shadow stacked his books together and walked up to the desk, and the teacher started to talk again. 

"Did you think you were being funny today? I didn't appreciate it."

Shadow toned himself down, knowing if he let himself going too far he could land himself in legitimate trouble, not just a reprimand. "No, I was being earnest" he said. "Sir"

"Alright, Shadow. Still, you could've been a little more eloquent. The way you acted was disrepectful. You have a free period next, I know. I may just make you stay behind, I'm also free then too." He said, stacking papers.

"Well, sir, I'm sorry, and I cannot stay after. I've made arrangements with another teacher. Call him if you don't believe me. Room 38." Shadow replied.

The teacher called his bluff, and called the teacher. He nodded as the teacher explained what the deal was. He looked at Shadow and said, "alright. I did think you were lying, but I guess I was wrong this time. Apologies. Go back to your seat and I'll get out of your hair."

Shadow sat back down and proceeded to do nothing for the remainder of the class. He left as soon as the bell rang and dropped off all of his items and off to the other class, which was a ways away in a far corner of the school.


	6. Chapter 6

Silver gave his schedule a second glance as as he left first period English and stared at it. _Woodshop?_ He thought, _Why the hell am I in woodshop?_ He quickly dug out his map and searched for the classroom listed on the schedule. It was the farthest away. He groaned. Every moment made this miserable first day even more miserable. But, either way, he was forced to continue his way to class. So, off he went.

He finally made it to his class and walked in, standing awkwardly in the doorway waiting for the teacher to acknowledge him. The teacher stood behind a long desk, looking over some papers as students filed in. He then glanced in Silvers direction and straightened up. "You must be the new boy, eh?'

Silver nodded quickly in reply. "Silver," he said as the teacher went to his attendance book just to double check.

"Alright, everything seems to be in order. Just take an empty seat, there's a few of them," the teacher said, not looking up from his book.

Silver took a random seat in the middle of the group of desks where nobody seemed to be too interested in anything. As he set his books under the desk, the bell rang and everyone started to quiet down. The teacher stopped looking at his attendance book and stood to address the class. "Okay, everybody. Nothing has changed from last class's instructions. Keep going as far as I've instructed you on your projects. The junior class helper is here again to assist you if you need assistance in anything," gesturing to the tall upperclassman in the front row. He turned to Silver. "As for you, new kid, I'll get you a semi finished project and you can sand it up til the next instructions."

With those words, the kids scrambled about to get their projects and the junior wandered aimlessly through the room watching the kids do their work. Silver just stood near the door to a back room, where the teacher was getting a semi finished woodworking project for him. He seemed to be having a difficult time, by the sounds coming from the back room. Silver was just about to ask if he was okay in there when the teacher finally produced the project. He handed it to him, stating, "Here you go kid. The sanders are over in the far corner near the front and away from the other equipment. Make sure you get eye protection on first, okay?"

Silver, still apprehensive, nodded and said, "sure, Mr. Adams." After that, he set his project down to grab some goggles and made his way to where the sanders were. There were three or four large sanding machines on the bench, and when he opened the cupboard, there were more, smaller handheld sanders. _Shit,_ thought Silver. He was at a complete loss as what to do. His old school didn't even _have_ shop class, and by the looks of the students, who all were Freshmen like him, the class was mandatory. He didn't want to bother the junior helper who was on the other side of the class, and he definitely didn't want to bug Mr. Adams, who was near the front surveying the class for misbehavior, but otherwise off doing his own thing. Silver surveyed the many sanders and thought it out. His project wasn't very large, so it probably wouldn't need one of those big sanders. He grabbed a medium sized sander from the cupboard.

He plugged it in, turned it on and was mere moments from putting the sander to the wood when someone stopped him. The person was holding his lower arm and yanking the cord out of the socket.

"Jesus Christ, dude! What are you trying to do, rip your damn skin off?" They asked. Silver looked up. It was thejunior class helper, a tall boy with dark fur. His additude did not seem to be of one who would spend a free period around Freshmen. Right now, he was clearly pissed.

Silver gulped, "I dunno. I wasn't sure what one to use, there's, like, twenty of them!"

The helper rolled his eyes. "God, you're _new_ new, aren't you? Shit like that is a move of someone whos never even seen a power tool." He was already starting to pack the sander away and get a new one.

"Its not that, it's just..." Silver paused to word things right, "I didn't want to bother you or Mr. Adams with a stupid question. Let you do what you need to."

"I'm here for you to ask questions, dumbass! Also, this class has girls in it. The ask the dumbest questions sometimes and they're too scared to use things. Trust me, I've heard all the questions in the book."

The dude had a point. "Sorry," said Silver, hoping to just get the berating over with.

The helper handed him the smaller sander and said, "just try not to screw up with this one, okay? I've got other helpless ninth graders to deal with. See you around." With that, he was already on his way.

Silver sighed and turned the sander on working on his project until the teacher said to stop working and put the projects away. _Thank God this class is over,_ thought Silver. He cleaned up quickly with the rest of the class, anxious for the bell to ring and to leave. It did, and Silver hurried off to his next class, just hoping that maybe it would be a little better. But, with the way the day had been going, Silver's expectations were far from high. Still, hope was all he had.]

A/N

Oh my goodness im so so so sorry for being gone. It's a long story. I wrote a lot of this during a school break which is why I was able to get so much out at once but now schools been back in session so ive been very busy with work and all that. Also I use OpenOffice as my word processor since thats whats reccomened for support here and I wanna keep this separate since my docs is for school. My computer got a virus or something in january the problem is not quite solved but thats what I had openoffice on and I had to wipe the computer. My older computer also has openoffice and thats what I'm using now but it's not ideal on the wifi I have. I've got a backup of my other computer but since I'm not sure if its okay I haven't redownloaded anything. Again, sorry, I WILL try my best to update despite my circumstances. Xoxo.


	7. Chapter 7

The cafeteria. It's a place every kid sees in their life if they go to school. And like many, this cafeteria was loud. Sonic didn't mind loud, because he himself was quite loud. Especially with his friends. You couldn't miss the crew: him, Mighty, Ray and Knuckles, who all sat together at the center table. They were all noisy and boisterous, as most 16 year-olds are. Today was no different.

Ray was out, probably in the farthest bathroom making out with his girlfriend, but otherwise, the rest took up half the circle table with their lunch trays and books, and were chatting as usual.

Knuckles laughed at a joke Mighty made and took a bite of food. He swallowed and said, "man, that reminds me of this one time, I was at this party, a total rager, and these two girls, they were from the Catholic school on the other side of town and they had never been to a party before, and uh, were looking to be a little less holy, if you get what I mean, so I-"

Mighty, finally sick of it, cut him off, "Knux, shut up! You've never done anything more than make out with a girl. You know it"

Sonic laughed, then added, "your mom would _kill_ you man. I saw her weep when you got girlfriend: ' _my little boy is all grown up! Too grown up for his mothers love he has to go and get a girlfriend. I'm sooo heartbroken!'_ "

Mighty was in a uproar about Sonic's impression. It was a spot on impression, after all. "Jesus Christ man," he gasped, "that is _exactly_ how your mom is. God, makes me wish you had done it so I could be there when your mom found out!"

"You two are asshats" Knuckles grumbled, but then snickered after. As much as the two teased him for his overprotective mother and his tall tales, he couldn't help but laugh with his friend. "Also, where do you get off on criticizing me? You two haven't gotten any farther either."

Sonic gestured vaguely with a fork, "yeah, but if I had, I wouldn't be enough of an idiot to have my mom get wind of it. Or do it with lonely Catholic school girls..." his eyes drifted away from the boys and towards the table where the most popular and arguably hottest girls at school sat. The cheerleaders and volleyball players. As much as he didn't like being thought of as a guy who stared at girls like a creep, but, hey, he couldn't help it sometimes. He's still a teenage dude, not a saint. The way they smiled with their friends, their bright eyes and their smooth, athletic bodies. They were perfect, in Sonic's eyes, and he would give anything to get with one of them.

"Sonic... YO EARTH TO SONIC!" shouted one of the dudes. Sonic didn't hear who. He spun back to face them.

Mighty sighed. "You going to be in the gym again tonight?" It was a conditioning night. They were going to get more and more frequent as spring got closer. It was unorthodox, but, the boys usually didn't have anything else to do and all they had to do was check in with coach, who gave them free reign of the gym and weight room while coach did other things. It was completely optional, but heavily encouraged.

Sonic ran a hair through his quills and gave a disappointed and apologetic smile. "Damn, wish I could but the 'rents said I gotta come home ASAP. Dunno why. I'll be there tomorrow, I promise."

The guys groaned in unison.

"Are you serious?" said Knuckles. "When you're not there, coach gets all pissy and we deal with the brunt of it!"

Mighty grumbled in agreement.

"What do you want me to say? I can't help what my parents want me to do! It's not like you have to go either." and with a huff, Sonic got up to take his tray up. When he returned, the boys were back to their normal selves, laughing at jokes and doing dumb things. Ray had come back from wherever he was and was sitting in Sonic's seat.

"So, you're ditching us and leaving us for dead with coach on a conditioning night?" Ray said. "Least that's what the guys tell me. That's so sad too, y'know I had just ordered pizzas and scantily clad women for the night."

The other boys snorted behind Ray.

Sonic pushed Ray over and replied, "shut up and get outta my seat. You and your combined 10 dollars can have all the pizza and chicks you like."

Ray moved and Sonic sat back down. The subject changed from the nights plans and the boys went on with their boy stuff until the bell rang signaling the end of lunch.


	8. Chapter 8

Shadow didn't eat lunch. He barely tolerated the lunchroom, but, that's where Rouge was, since she did eat lunch. Rouge was just done laughing at Shadow's story about the dumb things he'd seen in his free period. "God, Shadow, I don't know how you deal with all that BS when you could be actually doing something fun."

"It's my free period, and I can spend it however I want. Also, it's fucking high school; what am I gonna do for fun?"

Rouge shrugs. "I mean, I spend my free periods dealing the popular kids overpriced oregano in the senior hall bathrooms."

"That's because you're a scumbag, Rouge. You know half the rules I break are because I don't feel they should apply. My stand against life getting in the way of my self destruction. You break rules because you think its fun."

"Rule breaking isn't simple indulgence for me. It means I have power over something. I'm working behind the backs and under the noses of every stupid teacher here. I'm even above the supposed goody two shoes kids here," she said, looking to the loud table in the center, eyes lingering on the one yelling at his friend. "Power is one of the finest things in life. And I love the fine things."

"I don't need power trips like you. I have the power I need. Power over myself. The power of knowing I am who I am and that I am free from control of others. I live on my own, I follow my own set of rules, I don't get too engaged in the trivial. I do what matters to me and me alone."

"That's pretty narcissistic of someone who says they hate stuck up people."

"Everybody is stuck up in their own way. And everyone has a reason to be hated. Self obsession is one of them."

"Jesus Christ you and this hating everyone and everything shtick!" Rouge snapped. "I've never met anyone as miserable as you. Your nihilism, your anger, your general distaste for everything gets real boring and sickening sometimes."

"What are you talking about? I have my own damn interests, you just don't care about them, because, Rouge, you are a shallow, social climbing, power hungry, vile shell of a person. We may both have self centered ideologies, but our motives our different."

Rouge was incredulous. "Shallow? You're calling me shallow? Shadow, you don't know anything about me either. You don't know what I have to put through to get ahead. You are just coasting through life and look down on me for trying to get by? You are so detached from reality."

"I'm not detached from reality. I just know a different part of it. You are just in your little hole here in this city. You think you know so much."

"THATS BECAUSE I DO KNOW!" Rouge says in reply.

"Rouge." Shadow said, standing up. "I'm not having this pointless fight. I'll go sit in the bathroom by myself or some shit. Have fun eating your sandwich by yourself. Don't talk to me."

"That's fine by me! Have fun being late to school for the rest of your life!" She shouted back as he left the lunchroom.

Shadow, grumbling to himself, proceeded to wander the halls until the bell rang.


	9. Chapter 9

Silver gripped his lunch tray with apprehension. The lunchroom was full of complete strangers, who, for most of the day, had only given him nothing more than than a few moments attention, and he had no clue how welcomed he'd be. There didn't seem to be any empty tables, either, so he couldn't eat alone. He was becoming violently aware of how long he'd been dawdling in the front of the lunchroom. He scurried off to a random table that only had a few students sitting there, not socializing with each other.

He finally had a chance to talk to his real friends, back at his old school, after half a day of loneliness. He pulled his cell phone out and slid out the keyboard, scrolling through the contacts, sending a message to a couple of friends he knew wouldn't be busy. He anxiously ate his lunch as he waited for a response. His stomach was doing somersaults, and he was beginning to lose his appetite. He pushed his lunch tray away as he looked at his phone with greater intensity. He had fine signal, his plan was paid for, everything was fine on his end. His friends had to be busy right now, right? They had to be. _I'm SURE they're busy,_ he thought. Either way, he absolutely couldn't finish his lunch. The room was getting louder by the minute to him. There seemed to be more and more conversations by the minute. Why were the boys in the middle so loud? Nearby, two people were having an argument of some sort. He sighed to himself and got up to throw his lunch away.

He stood by the garbage cans, and noticed something. People just left the lunchroom when they pleased. He didn't know if this was against the rules, but, if he could leave this noisy hellscape, without protest from the monitors, he would. He walked out the second doorway, and went towards the general direction of his locker.

According to his watch, he had been walking for only three minutes or so, but he still had around ten minutes before lunch ended. He was in an empty hallway, and it was deathly quiet. Teachers didn't have class at the time, and most of them were in the lounge eating, or going out to lunch, or in their rooms alone. This was the good kind of quiet. Peaceful, serene, calming. No loud strangers, no clueless office ladies, no disapproving fathers, just him, and the peace of mind knowing he was alone. Not lonely. Alone. He felt the loneliest when he was in a room of people who didn't care about him. Being alone was freeing. Nobody was looking at him, thinking about him, judging him. Being by yourself in a crowd automatically singles you out, Silver knew this well, but, being by yourself in a place like a school hallway, that was powerful. He felt like he could breathe for the first time today. He took a deep breath of the cool air and rolled his shoulders. It felt good. Even if he did break a rule, the emptiness was making it clear he likely wouldn't get caught.

The silence didn't last as long as he hoped. From around the corner an altercation was occurring. Whatever it was, it didn't sound like he should ignore it. As he rounded the corner, he saw what was going on. There were three students, one was standing in the middle, lecturing the tallest while the third stood behind him."Whats going on here?" asked Silver.

The middle boy, a fuchsia chameleon shot a loot at the boy he was lecturing. "Don't move," he snapped. "This kid here," he nodded to the boy who was hiding behind him, "told me that this asshole senior was the one who's been harassing and stealing from the Science Club."

"And you caught him? What are you gonna do now?"

The chameleon had a small chuckle. "I'm not going to do anything. He's going to go down to the office and admit to what he's done, and repay the club." he turned to the suspect. " _aren't you?_ " He asked.

The boy nodded and left. The other boy left, tailing him.

Silver couldn't believe that this apparent bully easily and readily acquiesced to this kid's calm demands. "Did he seriously just go? Just because you told him to? How?"

"I have that ability, and I guess the notoriety. I mean, somebody's gotta take a stand when shit like that happens. I'm kinda the dude who solves those problems."

"On your own?"

"Yeah. Not much trouble, either. You must be new. The names Espio."

"Uh, yeah... today's my fist day here, actually. I'm Silver."

Espio nodded. "Cool. So, I was out here dealing with my thing here, what are you doing out in these halls during lunch."

"Well, it's my first day at a new school and everybody's kinda just been like 'oh, new kid, okay' and then go on with their lives. The cafeteria is also really loud and it sucks to be there alone. I had to get away but I can't really skip today, you know?"

"Yeah. I get that. I've never been the new kid, but I know the lonely part."

Silver furrowed his brow. "I thought you just said everyone knew you?"

Espio shrugged. "They know of me, but I'm really only ever noticed by anybody when they need my help. I know who everyone here is though."

"That sounds like it sucks. So how long have you been doing this all by yourself?"

"Well, it became my thing in eighth grade or so, so three years, something like that."

"So you're not even an upperclassman?"

"Nope. Just turned sixteen at the beginning of the year."

"Wow," Silver said. He glanced at his watch. "Crap, the bells gonna ring soon, you better go to wherever you need to be. My locker's right by here, so I'll be good."

"Oh, God, yeah, I gotta go, good luck on the rest of the day. See ya around."

"Yeah," he gave Espio a wave. "See you around," and as Espio left, Silver let out a grin, his outlook for the day less grim.


	10. Chapter 10

The final bell, had rung. Sonic was freed. Like every other teenager, he loved the end of the day. His assignments for the night were in his bag, his locker was locked, and he was waiting at the door for Ray and Knuckles. All three of them lived in the same neighborhood, and since this was the same neighborhood as the school, they all walked home. He checked the time on his phone, and tapped his foot. His parents said to come straight home, but he always waited for his friends. They, of course, didn't always rush out of school like he did. Finally they came out, chatting leisurely. "Hey, you guys wanna hurry up? My parents are riding me about getting home right away."

"Geez, you coulda just left." Ray said.

"C'mon, we always walk home together. We've done that for years. Why stop now?" Sonic replied.

Knuckles nodded in agreement. "Well, we better get going then!"

The three all headed off to their homes. As they strolled through the rows of identical cookie cutter homes, they continued talking. "You don't know why your parents want you home early? You're not in trouble or anything, are you?" asked Knuckles.

"Sonic? In trouble? No way. I've never seen him get in trouble, at least not enough for his parents to act like this," Ray commented. "Whatever's going on has got to be a big deal, though."

"Yeah," said Sonic, so lets get moving, I wanna get home and you guys need to get back to school by five for conditioning. You shoulda just stayed."

"Well, I mean, like you said, none of us have walked home alone yet," said Knuckles.

Sonic nodded. "I did say that. You guys are too good."

They picked up the pace, and continued to walk through their neighborhood, talking about classes and their social lives and a litany of other teenage subjects. After a couple of blocks, they turned onto their street. They stopped at Sonic's house, since it was the first on the street. Ray and Knuckles both lived in the cul-de-sac at the end of the street.

"Good luck," Ray said, chuckling.

"Well, hope it's good news," added Knuckles.

"Yeah, yeah, so do I, guys. Do good at conditioning tonight and give my apologies to Coach. See ya tomorrow," said Sonic, waving on his friends, and as he went up his porch stairs, he watched them turn around and head back to school.

He opened the door and poked his head in. Well, this was good news, as it meant he was not going to be chewed out. His parents were always right in the living room waiting for him when that was the case. He walked in, and called out "Mom?! Dad?! Where you guys at?"

Their voices rang out from the upstairs. "We're down the hall!" they said in perfect unison.

"Alright!" Sonic yelled back. "You want me to come down right now?"

"Uh, give us a second!" His father called out.

"Okay! All good!" His mother yelled.

Sonic walked up the stairs and stood at the front of the hallway. He scanned the hallway and noticed his bedroom door was closed. Bingo.

He walked down the hall to his room and asked through the door, "you guys in here?"

"Yep! Come on in!"

He opened the door, and found his parents sitting on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed. Sonic did not own a bunk bed. They were grinning excitedly. "SUPRISE!" they yelled.

"So..." he said, taken aback, "whats all this about?"

"Well, this is just part one of the surprise," said his father.

Sonic chuckled nervously. "What's the second part?"

"Well," his mother said, still grinning, "this was really hard to keep a secret,"

"Like really, really hard," cut in his father.

"We're fostering a boy from the children home!" they said together.

Sonic stood in stunned silence. "You're getting a foster kid? Like, where you let a kid live with you like you're adopting them, but like you're not adopting them, one of those kinda deals?"

"Yep," his father replied.

"And you did this all without any input from me?"

"We thought it would be a nice surprise. I'm sorry if you're shocked, honey, we just thought this would be a nice thing to do. I mean, there's so many parent-less children that need some structure in their lives, and we'd been thinking how much we'd like to help out and make a difference in these kids lives. We'd been planning this for a really long time. I do hope you're on board," his mother said, her excitement turning to a more calming tone.

"I mean, I guess I'll have to be on board. So, I'm guessing he's sharing a room with me?"

"Yeah, I hope that's not a problem, son. We were gonna turn my office into bedroom, but we couldnt make it work cause my stuff didn't fit in the master bedroom with all the things already there," said his father.

"Uh, okay, cool." Sonic paused. "I'm not sleeping on the top bunk. That's the first thing I'm declaring with this kid. No compromises."

"That's fine, I'm sure that won't be an issue," said his mother. "So, you wanna know a little about him before he comes here? He'll be here after school tomorrow."

"Well, whatever you know, I'd like to know, y'know?"

"Of course," she replied. "well, he's apparently a really bright boy. He's twelve, so he'll be going to the middle school next door to your school."

"Uh huh."

"He's a bit shy, so don't be too overbearing or pushy, he might be a little standoffish at first, okay?"

"Okay, so, whats his name?"

"Ha! Beat me to the punch. His name's Miles."

Sonic nodded. "Cool. Cool."

"Well," said his father, getting up, "I think that's all. Come on, hon, let's get outta here and give Sonic some time to himself to think about it."

After that, his mother also got up, and they left, closing the door behind them. Sonic flopped down onto the bottom bunk. "Wow," he said to himself, chuckling. "I think I mighta preferred getting yelled at." He smirked. "Maybe the kid'll be cool."

A/N: hey! K here. Just wanna say, i'm suuuuper sorry for the majorly inconsistent chapters. I'm pretty busy nowadays, I've got a lot of school clubs and stuff like that. I hope you don't mind and aren't mad. But thanks for all the reads! Also, just a little question, since its coming up soon, what do you guys think of the upcoming Sonic movie? I'm gonna watch it, just cause I'm really curious. I think it might be kinda good, but I dunno. At the very least, Jim Carrey as Robotnik I think may be cool, but I'm biased cuz I think he's funny.


	11. Chapter 11

Shadow rode the bus home in bitter silence. He was still pissed at Rouge. She had no right to judge him, especially since she was no good herself. It was a long bus ride and Shadow hated it more than ever.

Eventually, though, the bus made it to his stop and he got off with the rest of the kids on his block. He walked off down the street to his house. He unlocked the door and went in.

It was exactly how he left it, of course. Messy, and empty. Shadow, for all intents and purposes, lived alone. He was what the state called an "emancipated minor". It was agreed upon that he could live on his own as long as he responsibly finished his schooling, and once he was done with that, he'd no longer be a ward of the state and he could do whatever he wanted, whatever that was. Shadow couldn't see that far. He never once visioned a future for himself. It all seemed so pointless. Maybe he was throwing his life away like nearly every adult in his life told him, but really, Shadow didn't have a life to throw away to begin with. Everything was as empty as the house. He sulked off to his bedroom so he could do the work he needed to do.

Every month or so, Shadow had to bring in a mandated progress report so the courts and his behavioral specialist knew how he was doing. It was pretty ridiculous, but, it's what kept him here alone, so he did not mind at all. It was in his backpack, which he set down and noticed something. It wasn't closed all the way. It was a drawstring bag, so just carrying it usually kept it shut. He pulled it open and dumped out the contents of the bag. Loose papers, some pens and pencils, a book, his folder containing the progress report, whatever binder he'd grabbed to feign productivity, and... nothing else. His notebook was gone. "Shit." Shadow whispered to himself. Someone must have taken his notebook. Even if they hadn't, his notebook was somewhere that was not here. If it was not here, it was where someone could find it. If someone could find it, Shadow would be in serious trouble. That notebook was no lighthearted journal. Shadow looked at the time and scowled. He had no time to look for it. He had to finish his report and take it to the office. School would be closed by then. He had no choice but to let it go and hope nobody found it if it wasn't stolen. Still, it was likely hopeless, as Shadow was 99 percent sure that he didn't lose the notebook. He slammed his fist against his bedpost and grumbled before getting to work on his progress report.

After a bit of work, Shadow finally finished his stupid report and sealed it in the envelope. With a magic marker he wrote his name on the envelope and tucked it under his arm he grabbed his cell phone and left.

The office he needed to turn the envelope into was a decent walk away from where Shadow lived, since there weren't any branches in his neighborhood. There wasn't anything in his neighborhood except for the pawn shop that Rouge's father owned. It made doing anything rather difficult, but, Shadow made do. He used the time to think of who could have taken his book. It could have been anyone on his bus, really. He didn't know when it was taken, aside from that it must've been on the bus, so nobody could be ruled out. His bus was full of the usual miscreants you'd find where he lived, but he supposed a few kids wouldn't stoop so low. He also tried to remember who wasn't on the bus and checked them off his list. Reasonably, it couldn't have been anyone sitting in front of him, since he didn't see the theft happening. It only left a few suspects. He made a mental note of who they were and made sure he'd remember to check them tomorrow at school. For now, he'd just have to ignore it and hope he can stop whatever they want to do with the notebook.

He entered into the office and looked at the receptionist. "Hey, I'm just here to drop off my report, as usual. Here," he said handing her the envelope.

The lady responded only with a nod and mindlessly set the envelope into a mail basket. She handed him a new folder and envelope, containing a new blank progress report.

Shadow took them and left.

Since he had nowhere else to be, Shadow walked home quickly and with only a little worry about his notebook. There was nothing he could do about it now. Once he was home, he wondered about his options for what to do now. For one, he needed to clean, so he did that as quickly as he could, before going to his room. He really had nothing to do now. His computer was busted, and he was fighting the state to get him a new one, because he really did need it, for school. What the state didn't know is his teachers had offered him the ability to hand write essays, he just wasn't doing them. He looked to see what binder he'd grabbed. He chuckled coldly at it. It was his math binder. _What the hell,_ he thought, and picked it up. The way he'd been chewed out today, he was probably better off doing his homework for tonight at least. He sat down on his bed and started to do the homework on his lap.


	12. Chapter 12

Walking out of the office with a note stating his bus number, Silver felt relieved. The day was over, and he could leave. Of course, leaving school meant going home, but at this point, he'd take home over school, just as the lesser of two miseries.

He stepped out the front doors and scanned the row of buses before glancing at his note. His bus was the fifth in line. He walked up to the bus and started to get on, before the bus driver looked at him questioningly. "I ain't seen you on here before. You got a pass or are you new?"

"Oh," said Silver. "I'm new. I have this thing that says this is my bus, see?" He passed the note to the driver.

The driver nodded. "Yup. Your address is on this route. Your stops on the corner of your street and Carlson Street, so keep an eye out."

Silver took the note and went to a random empty seat. There were a few, as everyone seemed to want to sit with someone else. This, of course made Silver the odd one out once again. He sat down and checked his phone. None of the friends he'd texted had replied. He sighed, sliding the keyboard of his phone back into the phone. He'd try IM'ing them when he got home. He put his phone away, then suddenly felt someone plop next to him in the seat. It was the chameleon from the hallway. "Oh, hey. Didn't see you there," said Silver.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," said Espio. "So, Silver, you on this bus route?"

Silver was astonished that this dude had remembered his name. They only met once and didn't talk at all for the rest of the day. "Well, I'm here."

"Yeah. You don't mind me sitting here do you? I just saw you were alone and thought you might wanna chat."

Silver couldn't help to crack a smile. "No, go right ahead. Didn't have anything else to do or anyone else to talk to."

"Really? You didn't make any friends?"

"I told you man, nobody gave me more of a passing glance today. My old friends have been pretty silent, too."

"Well, you made one friend today," said Espio. "Me. It's their loss if they don't wanna hang out with you."

"I wouldn't call it a loss. I mean, I didn't talk to them enough to give them a reason to hang."

"Still, it isn't that hard for someone to strike up a conversation with the quiet new kid. I mean, I did it. Twice. Maybe you should just put yourself out more. Let people get to know you."

Silver shook his head. "Letting people get to know me didn't go so well at my last school."

"It was just a suggestion." Espio changed the subject. "So where do you live?"

"Uh," Silver had to glance at his note. He had yet to commit his address to memory. "I live on Thomson street. In the white house with the screened in porch."

"Oh, cool! I live like a block over. My stops right after yours. Maybe I'll see you around after school."

Silver glanced out the window. He forgot to remember to look out for his stop. They bus was still not near his neighborhood, from what he could recall. "I'd have to check with my dad on that one."

"You have to ask your dad if you can have friends over? At fourteen?"

"I mean, he's usually cool with having friends over, that's not his thing. It's going to other peoples places he has a problem with. He's kinda strict," explained Silver.

"That sucks. There any way I can get ahold of you then?" Asked Espio.

"Uh, yeah," said Silver. You got a cell phone?"

"Yeah, I do. You can't always reach me by it though, so I'll give you my home number, too. I can put them in your phone right now."

"Great," said Silver, opening up a new contact in his phone and handing it over to Espio.

Espio entered in his numbers and handed back the phone to Silver. "Just shoot me a text when you get home so I can get your number."

"Yeah, no problem." Silver looked up. "Looks like my stop's soon."

Espio hopped to the seat across the row from him as the bus rolled to a stop.

"See you around," said Silver as he got up. He walked off the bus with the rest of the kids for the stop and walked down the street to his house.

His house was almost halfway down the block, and Silver made it a quick walk. He opened the screen door and stepped onto the porch. The front door was unlocked, but he knew his dad wasn't home. He wouldn't be home until six, maybe seven if he got dinner on his way home. The only reason the door was unlocked right now was Silver hadn't gotten a copy of the key yet. He walked in and hung his bag on a hook in the foyer. He checked the table by the door for a note. There wasn't one, meaning Silver could just go to his room and do whatever until his dad got home.

Naturally, Silver did just that. His bedroom was upstairs as opposed to his fathers, and quite small. He liked it though. He had finally unpacked everything and made his room how he liked it. He had all his posters up on the wall, and what little furniture he had set up nicely. He walked to his computer desk, tucked into the far corner, away from the door, and sat at the chair. As he turned on his computer, he texted Espio like he said he would, and then signed into the computer. Once again, there were no messages from his friends on his IM. He checked to see was online, and it was the people he messaged earlier and a couple more. He figured he'd try his best friend, since she didn't have a phone, and sent her a message.

"S1lver_: hows it going back there? just had my first day at school today and it totally sucked"

to his surprise, there was an almost immediate response.

"XxPrincess_BxX: nothins changed back home except ur not here :( miss you lots! Sounds like the new schools full of losers

S1lver_: everyone was just so wrapped up in their friends they didnt notice me :/ I may have made one friend tho. he lives a block away from me and we talked on the bus."

As he sent the last message, his computer dinged to notify him someone had gone online. He checked to see who it was and smiled. He'd recognize that username anywhere. He clicked on it.

"S1lver_: hey 3 missed you today."

His boyfriend was another person he only contacted via IM. This was mostly because he only used IM when his dad wasn't home. He stared at the screen with anticipation.

"Blacksky23: sucky first day?

S1lver_: yeah. not that i wouldnt miss you if i had a good day.

Blacksky23: i know, cuz i had a pretty ok day and i missed u 2

S1lver_: people suck. none of them wanna get to know me and im too scared to let them. they didnt like me much back there when they did know me and theyre not gonna like me here.

Blacksky23: well I like u so dont worry about it ;-) but did u really not talk to anyone?

S1lver_: theres a guy on my bus i got along with. hes ok but thats it

Blacksky23: thats a potential friend right there! just be urself and itll be fine! I got a paper to do so ill chat l8r ok? Bye xox"

Once he said goodbye, Silver closed the window and turned off his computer. It was still a couple hours before his dad would get home, and he had nothing to do. What he had felt about being alone in the halls earlier today did not ring true in his room. Here, he felt lonely again. That panging, empty loneliness that hurts inside. He got up from his chair and flung himself onto his bed, sighing. "I hate it here."

A/N: Hey! Another long chapter! I really like writing Silver :). This chapter took a little longer to write bc I never used IM, it was way before my time lol, so I had to do some "research" about it. Do you like the screen names I made? Just an fyi, I hope to get posting more chapters, since I'm home all the time now for once. Just keep reading them! Well, see you around, K


	13. Chapter 13

Sonic slept surprisingly well on his new bed, shocking news notwithstanding. He got up and managed to not bang his head on the bunk above. He did his normal morning routine, giving himself a smile in his bathroom mirror when he was done. _Lookin' good as always._ After that, he got his things together and walked downstairs. He set his school bag in the living room and walked back to the kitchen. To his surprise, his mother was already there, cooking. His father was also up, drinking coffee at the breakfast table. "What're you guys up so early for?" He asked. His parents were never up before him.

His mother chuckled as she flipped an egg. "Well, we gotta be at the childrens home in a few hours, so we just wanted to get up and get ready."

His father nodded. "A good start to a big day. Being up and at 'em so we make a good first impression. We're gonna be a bit busy while you're at school."

"Oh, I gotcha."

His mother gave him a cheerful smile. "That's great, honey. Sit down and I'll get you some breakfast. You've got time."

"Sure," he said, sitting down across from his father. "So how come I can't come along?" He asked.

His father shifted in his seat. "Well, for one, we don't really want you missing school. You'd be surprised how important junior year can be, son. Its a busy time. We don't want you getting behind. Another thing, its a private meeting. You'd have to sit out in the car while we managed all the final affairs and got Miles' things packed, which would be a while."

"Exactly," his mother chimed in as she slid a plate in front of Sonic. "You'll get to meet him when you get home. We should be all done by then and waiting for you. Eat up."

"I guess you're right. Thanks for breakfast," he said, shoveling food into his mouth. He finished his food quickly, and got up to put his plate in the sink.

His father chuckled, shaking his head. "I don't know how you don't choke eating the way you do."

"Heh. One of my many skills. I gotta get going now, see you when I get home."

As he left the kitchen, he had, unfortunately, not made it past the grasp of his mother who grabbed him and pulled him close to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Have a good day at school now!" She said as he groaned.

"Maaaaaa," Sonic grumbled, still in her clutch.

"What? I just wanted to say goodbye!" She gave a light chuckle. "I know, you're so grown up, but it's my motherly instincts. Do be good though," she told him. "Try not to blow any of your work off because you're excited."

"That's great, mom, I won't be too anxious, but, _seriously_ , I need to go!" He said.

She sighed. "Oh, alright! Get going, then. I wouldn't want you to be late either."

"Thanks," he said as he made his way to the front door, grabbing his things. "Hope everything goes good with the kid," he added as he walked out.

Once outside, he used the back of his hand to vigorously rub the scarlet mark of mom-lipstick that was on his cheek. He walked out to the corner where he met up with his friends, to see they were already there.

"You're behind today," commented Knuckles.

"His parents musta been dragging him behind," said Ray.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "How'd you know?"

Ray smirked. "You still got a mark where your mommy kissed you goodbye," he teased.

Sonic groaned and rubbed his face some more. "God, what do they put in this stuff? Why does it stick so well on everything _but_ their lips?"

"That's a mystery we'll never know," said Ray.

"Does it look any better?"

Knuckles nodded. "You might wanna wash up before class though, just to be sure."

"So," said Ray as they walked, "What happened with the parents? You in trouble or anything? Get chewed out? What class you failing?"

Sonic shook his head. "Nah. Something way weirder. My parents are getting a foster kid, like, today. Without telling me."

Ray couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Knuckles shook his head. "Seriously. What did they want?"

Sonic looked both of them in the eye. "Guys. I'm not joking. My parents seriously went behind my back and decided to add a temporary family member to the house without asking me about it."

"No way," said Ray.

"Yeah. He moves in today. They're picking him up while I'm at school."

"Your parents must be crazy," said Knuckles.

Sonic scoffed. "Evidently, they are."

"So you angry?" asked Ray. "I'd be pissed."

"Well," said Sonic, thinking for a moment. "There's not really anything I can do about it, so there's no point in getting angry. I just kinda have to go with it I guess."

Ray dropped the subject. The boys all finished their walk to school talking about other things.

"See you when I do," said Sonic, splitting off in a hallway to go to a bathroom to wash his face. He figured he was alone, until he heard whispering from a stall, but as he approached it, the voice shouted a panicked "go away!" and Sonic awkwardly left whoever was there to his business.

After the little pit stop, it was back to the normal grind that was high school. Sonic shifted his bag and went off to his locker, ready to get this day done and over with.


	14. Chapter 14

In the morning, still running off of the spite he felt the day before, Shadow got up early. Before his alarm, even. He was able to get all his things together and head out to the bus stop in record time. He was so early, that not even Rouge was there yet.

Then, she didn't show at her usual time. _Strange,_ Shadow silently remarked, but he didn't think much beyond it. He was still angry with her, after all. Let her see what it's like running behind.

The time that Shadow usually showed up came, and everyone else at the stop was there, except Rouge. Now Shadow was beginning to wonder what was going on. He gave his phone a cursory glance and didn't see anything from her on it, but still didn't bother to message her to see what was going on. _What do I care where she is?_ Shadow said to himself.

In all his apathy, Shadow didn't even bother to see if Rouge was anywhere near the stop as he boarded the bus. As it pulled out and passed her father's shop, he didn't bother to notice anything more than the darkened windows. He spent the rest of the ride pushing her out of his mind as he thought about the more pressing matter in his life; his missing notebook. He had his priorities all wrong last night. Whoever had it would have already done whatever nefarious plans they had for it. It had been hours. The only thing Shadow could really do now was damage control. The notebook held a lot hatred within it, and no matter what was taken out of it, it was bad news for Shadow. He knew most of the notebook was mere melodrama, the performative angst all teenagers exhibit. Any animosity he harbored was completely internal. Shadow knew better than to put anything serious in the notebook, but no matter what his true opinions were, the school was going to take what was written in the book as the truth. Students, teachers, guidance counselors, every one of them would believe whatever was written down over his words.

He just had to hope whoever took the notebook hadn't chosen anything too awful to spread around from the notebook, or even worse, chosen to spread the whole thing around. Whatever it was, it waited for him on the other side of the bus ride. He only had so much time to plan, and no idea what he could do to plan. The harsh truth was he may just have to deal with whatever happened, and leave it out of his control. There could just be no way out. He spent the rest of the bus ride debating with himself what his next step should be.

He shook off his plan as he walked into the school building. It was still in the back of his mind, but now his main focus was seeing if he could tell by the students reactions what had been leaked from his notebook. If they were suspicious of him. If they were whispering. If they didn't make eye contact. If they were just a little _too_ nice. So far, nothing much seemed to be going on with the kids on the way to his locker. He rounded the corner to the hallway where his locker was, and he still didn't see anyone acting strangely. What he did see was quite routine, in fact. Rouge, by her locker, taking some money from one of the jocks and discretely stuffing it into her backpack. She had, for whatever reason, gone to school early, before Shadow, and completely skipped her usual routine. Shadow had a sneaking suspicion as to why. Scowling, he walked up to her as the jock dude left. "Are you avoiding me or some petty shit, Rouge? You got something to hide?" He asked, leaning against his locker, which was adjacent to hers.

Rouge scoffed. "Do you really think I'd stoop to something that low? God, that's so absolutely _pathetic_. I don't need to 'avoid' you," she said, air quoting the word 'avoid'. "My dad just had business on the other side of town and offered to give me a ride on his way there. Not everything is about you, Shadow."

"Bullshit. You and your dad barely talk, you said. You're always complaining about him."

"I complain that he's always working all day in his shop. You'd know that if you actually listened when I talk about my life. Also, what happened to 'don't talk to me'? You get all pissy with me at lunch like you never wanna see me again and now you come up to me like a crazy person with accusations. What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me is none of your damn business. And, you can stop talking to me whenever you want. Nobody is stopping you," retorted Shadow, who began to open his locker and gather things for is morning classes. His locker door hid Rouge from view, but he was still glaring suspiciously at her. Not saying anything more, he slammed his locker shut, and stormed off to his homeroom, leaving a stunned Rouge in the hallway behind him.

In homeroom, he scanned the room, seeing nothing more than the usual teenager morning activities, maybe a few stares, but nothing more than that. His mind was still on Rouge, despite the abrupt end to their conversation. She completely dodged his question and made the conversation about herself. Was she avoiding him on purpose? In thought, Shadow put his head down on his desk. Her actions were leading Shadow to believe that she was. He couldn't help but see that she was acting suspicious, or at the very least, not quite like herself. Her normal jabs and play fighting was getting to be actual insults. It was all directed at Shadow, so it had to be something about him. Whatever it was, it seemed like too much of a coincidence that his notebook full of incriminating journal entries would just disappear the same day he and Rouge get into a fight out of nowhere and for seemingly no reason. Nobody else seemed to know, so maybe she was waiting for something big to happen to let it out. Maybe he had some time to get it away from her. Suspicion turned to betrayal as Shadow put the pieces together. He scrapped his old plan of saving face in that very moment, and focused all his ideas on what to do with Rouge. These thoughts ran rampant in his brain until the bell went off, signaling the end of homeroom.

A/N Hey, just here to let you know, I'm still here! I'm just having a little bit of a hard time getting Shadows arc going. It's starting to go a different way than I originally planned though ;). If you notice, I've changed the summary accordingly. - K.


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